Michael's Den, De Beauvoir Town, N1

Official site of Michael's Den - www.michaelsden.co.uk

Official site of Michael's Den - www.michaelsden.co.uk

Formerly the Oxford Arms, this was a pub which closed around 2006 for conversion to residential use. Surprisingly, it reopened in mid-2017 as a bar called Halliford House, which keeps somewhat erratic opening hours. This is quite a socially mixed area, something of a far cry from the wealthier climes of Islington's Upper Street so it does look a bit out of place here on the border with Hackney. There's a spacious patio and attractive hanging baskets with flowers. You enter into a room that's neither compact nor spacious with a modern boarded floor, some bare brick on which there's some 'steampunk' copper plumbing which snakes upwards across the ceiling; sculpture or functional? When not brick, the walls are covered with glazed black and white tiles above waist height modern wood panelling painted the usual dark grey/blue. Furniture is either fairly conventional or ruched green velour benches around the windows' perimeter. The bar back is brick and supports some kind of scaffold shelving unit. The bar itself appears to have been made from recycled filing cabinets and at ground floor, there's a tiled bar apron; there are flowers and tea lights on the tables and the ceiling appears to have been painted to resemble Cor-Ten steel and supports lighting in the form of low wattage filament bulb clusters; there are artworks to the walls which recall Picasso or Francis Bacon. There's an open kitchen to the rear and stairs down to just two unisex cubicles in which there's more steampunk in the form of some aparatus which combines both the lighting and plumbing, the water flow being controlled by a stopcock - I hope it's safe and even if so, it has some very awkward angles which trap the unwary. Staff were very friendly to the two of us and even gave us some complimentary pickled (not marinated) olives which were new to us and rather moreish. Ales: none, just keg offerings including Lagunitas IPA at £3.00 a half - scorchio! It wouldn't really be right to call this a pub, rather it's a bar/restaurant. It's pleasant enough but the lack of a couple of real ales (please no Pride or Doom Bar) would get a higher mark. I would also have reservations about the lavatories - two unisex cubicles might work in a small restaurant, but in a place of high fluid consumption, I can see men and women queuing up the stairs to use them. Or going somewhere else...